A Million Dollars Worth of Upgrades in the Pinnacle: 21 E. Huron in River North
This 2-bedroom in The Pinnacle at 21 E. Huron would appear to be like every other luxury 2-bedroom in River North.
Only the listing for this unit says that “close to a million dollars was spent to turn this unit into a one of a kind designer home.”
Where did the money go?
It has a Poggenpohl custom kitchen with luxury appliances.
There is diagonal wide plank flooring.
The listing says there is an Annex spa bath (and if you look at the pictures for the bathrooms, you can see they aren’t done in regular tile and granite.)
It is, however, listed just $135,000 over the 2004 purchase price.
Chezi Rafaeli at Coldwell Banker has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #2101: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in December 2004 for $655,000
- Originally listed in March 2009 for $890,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $790,000 (parking is extra)
- Assessments of $724 a month (includes heat, air conditioning, doorman, pool)
- Taxes of $8011
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Bedroom #1: 13×14
- Bedroom #2: 12×13
- Living room: 16×16
- Family room: 16×16
- Kitchen: 13×9
- Dining room: 12×8
Dear VHT: Please quit resizing my browser window. Thank you.
Tastefully done, except that orange bathroom. Just too much going on there.
When they mean a million bucks was spent, probably mean purchase price + improvements.
“Dear VHT: Please quit resizing my browser window.”
Tell your browser to ignore javascript resizing. Firefox has that setting for sure.
“When they mean a million bucks was spent, probably mean purchase price + improvements.”
Either way, they’re taking a heck of a bath selling for $790k. Also been on the market for 477 days.
what excuse is there for not listing square footage? i know this has been asked before but seriously…
do realtors hope buyers just won’t care?
OMG you had me at Poggenpohl! what the hell does square footage matter when you’ve got Poggenpohl!
I’m sure there is some reason that realtors have for excluding square footage…but i see a listing without square footage and the first thing I think is that they’d rather not tell me.
is this just a sign that most people would rather hear about the bells and whistles then actually do math? that most people would rather overpay for an overpriced, depreciating, non necessity asset (Poggenpahl cabinets) then know the actual space they’re getting?
are buyers still this stupid?
p.s. very nice place. extremely well done except for that second bathroom.
but if we’re talking north of $600+/SF which i suspect we are then it is a dream and nothing more.
I don’t care how expensive, fashionable, or modern they are, I do not like sinks where I can see the plumbing below.
Yes. There is a property I like in Old Town. It’s smaller than what I’ve got now.
It’s $$$. The sq. footage is not listed. Looking at other similar properties, I’ve got it figured at over $600/sq. ft. I don’t care how nice its been upgraded. I’m not paying $600/sq. ft. unless its that Trump 1Bdrm.
List the SQ. FTage already. So what if we can’t agree on if its the interior walls, etc. At least give me a ballpark. Or include a floorplan.
aesthetically there’s nothing ‘wrong’ but everyone repeat after me…
as you spend more $$$$ on upgrades, the number of buyers to whom your upgrades will appeal to will decrease….well actually it’s probably more of a parabolic function of $ v. appeal, 🙂 a big inverted “u”.
Most of the other 2/2’s for sale in the building are 1,555 sq ft with one 2/2 that’s only 1,300.
It’s only $508 a sq ft! That’s a steal! Buy this and flip it!
This is a small 2 bedroom. I believe it is less than 1500 sqft.
I have visions in my head of Daryl Hannah explaining all of Gekko’s impressive furnishings in Wall Street. This could be Bud Fox’s condo for all we know.
No Etruscan vase, which is good, because some dope might use it for an ashtray.
I will take the beach house in Wildwood.
Bob 2: Awesome tip regarding disabling javascript resizing. VHT can slightly inconvenience me no longer!
I’ve been in this unit a long time ago. In fact, I think I emailed Sabrina about it at the time. I remember the pile of wax napkins next to the dining room table. I also remember thinking “Italian restaurant”. Like many “bachelor pads” it’s really, really dark. If memory serves me correctly, there’s a black wall in there and some black drapes. As they say on “Get It Sold” it’s “too taste specific”. The fact that it’s been on the market so long is confirmation that few people value the “upgrades”. Maybe it they lightened it up a bit (paint, drapes) it would sell better.
What the heck are wax napkins?
Oh….but if an agent had suggested repainting or changing drapes no way he would have gotten the listing.
As for why agents don’t show square footage, there are many reasons:
. Sure…it could be unfavorable. And if it’s your place I’m listing you don’t want me showing it either.
. Potential liability if it proves to be wrong
. If I do a floor plan then I might be inclined to show it but then supposed it’s less than what other identical units are showing based upon the developer’s numbers?
. A 1200 sq ft unit might appear to be bigger than a 1400 sq ft unit because of the layout but if buyers make a quick decision on a hard cutoff they will never see it.
“What the heck are wax napkins?”
Thought that would get a rise. I don’t know what else to call them. I think they were art. They looked like napkins but when I touched them they were made of wax. You can see them below that painting.
I looked at the pics then after reading the glowing commentary from the regulars, I looked again.
I am sorry, but I just don’t see why all the praise. If it has sat, languishing on the MLS for 477 days, I take it not too many other people see any value in the upgrades either.
Call me a jaded NYer who has seen way too many $1500+/sq ft apartments, but for me this is run of the mill if not under run of the mill.
To echo Bob, that one million dollar quote was the original purchase price plus the emotional value attached to the upgrades. I have Poggenphal in one of my kitchens….not that big a deal anymore to the upper echelon homes.
JMM, Blue Horseshoe *loves* Anacott Steel.
One meeeeellion dollars in upgrades!!!
hahahahahaha
Easily the single craziest claim / RE stretch I’ve ever seen.
Thanks for the laughs.
“Thought that would get a rise. I don’t know what else to call them. I think they were art. They looked like napkins but when I touched them they were made of wax. You can see them below that painting.”
Haha holy crap, that is weird, whatever it actually is.
I really like the Master Bathroom/closet area. Granted, I’d probably expect more from a $790k 2/2, but it’s pretty cool.
“As for why agents don’t show square footage, there are many reasons”……
LOL…OK…but just for the record, these reasons are Chicago specific. NY listings do show the sq ft AND floorplans…all with none of the issues listed presenting a problem. In order to get the proper $/sq ft cost, there has to be accurate measurements.
Sorry, any listing over $500k, a floorplan and CORRECT measurements should be a requirement. How hard could it be? In a building like this, the owners should have the original specs which would end all speculation.
Yeah, I would agree that in high rises where there are many units with the same floor plan you should show the square footage for easy comparison. But it’s going to be the developer’s square footage because that’s what all the other listings are going to be using in the building and you don’t want to be disadvantaged.
Thanks for the tip on java resizing!
Those kind of upgrades should only be had in a 2br/2b if one is going to live in the place and appreciate them. Can’t recoup on resale.
Such listing language annoys me.
this place is trying too hard
at the end of the day its still a 1200sqft condo in a high rise no matter how much expensive stuff that doesn’t match in it
Gary:
Why won’t the NAR just set some standards for measuring square footage? I have this issue from time to time come up. Realtor says a place is 1500 sqft. The bank sends the appraiser out and the appraiser says it is 1200 sqft. Borrower gets pissed and wants to know why the difference which is purely in the methodology that is used.
How hard is for the NAR to say square footage must be measured in X way or else it is a breach of Realtor ethics? Or maybe just adopt the same standard that appraisers use?
Lack of floor plans is annoying.
I don’t know; I am surprised the New Yorker takes such a jaded view. I look at this unit and compare it to the “mansion” posted just recently on CribChatter, and at least there’s custom work here. You can’t say that for the “mansion,” whose finishes were apparently thrown together by the builder. Here someone at least used a designer who put some thought into it. This looks very updated to me and the finishes have some life. Not everyone will be crazy about the second bathroom, which I would call “marble” rather than “orange.” I love the fact that they used something other than squares of slate (I can’t stand the sight of it, and it’s used on everything from bathroom floors to fireplaces — sorry to all but that is so dated) and that the kitchen is not your typical “cherry and stainless” variety that is also featured in the “mansion.”
Take a tape measure with you when you see a place. Why would you trust any party involved in the transaction when you can easily verify room dimensions yourself?
“Realtor says a place is 1500 sqft. The bank sends the appraiser out and the appraiser says it is 1200 sqft. Borrower gets pissed and wants to know why the difference which is purely in the methodology that is used.”
Russ,
I think it’s more than just having standards. Realtors don’t want to be responsible for measuring and calculating accurately. It’s not always easy to do it. For more complex layouts you would need floor plan software and I can see a bunch of realtors having a hard time using that correctly.
If a floor plan is done you will usually see the square footage. However, despite the fact that it might be annoying to buyers that there is no floorplan, from the seller’s standpoint you probably don’t want to advertise the fact that your 2 bedroom condo is only 800 sq ft unless you get bombarded with showing requests. And if half the listings in Chicago don’t have it you’re not going to be the one to fall on your sword.
But again, in a high rise where plenty of the units show their square footage I think it behooves you to show the square footage but they all have to be on the same basis – e.g. developer’s numbers. You are doing your seller a disservice if you show a significantly smaller square footage than an identical unit that is going off of the developer’s numbers. I won’t do it.
When I’m working with buyers it really comes down to how the unit feels, though square footage is a consideration when available. I’ve seen units that claim to have huge spaces but then it has a huge hallway that winds through the whole place.
“JMM, Blue Horseshoe *loves* Anacott Steel.”
ha! ha!
Still a classic.
We lived on the 21st floor of the Pinnacle. No one ever really lived in this unit. (other than the contractors) They probably did spend a million, but their view was limited to the new hotel that was built on State Street.
You say “annex” I say “onyx”. ” Spent a million ou upgrades.” Might be time for the agency to hire a proof reader and fact checker. Perhaps they can also calculate the square footage numbers!
We looked at a place that had a great posted floor plan, measured professionally, and calculated the place to be around 2600sq ft. At a later date we heard from the seller’s realtor that she was almost fired because the seller refused to believe that her place wasn’t 3,000sq ft. With that kind of seller, I’d probably refuse to include sq. ft. too.
interesting feedback. thanks to all.
I own a place in the Pinnacle, and wanted to check this out too. Per the developer (Fordham Company) floorplan, which is on the property owner’s website, the unit was approx. 1332 square feet. It does face due west. Hope that provides some insight. Photos do reveal a whole bunch of customization — have to agree the $1 Million statement seems way out of line. While I am not a realtor with access to factual data, the days on market seem to be pretty high for units in this building.
as an architect and a real estate agent, I can understand why some individuals choose not to list square footage. Many developers have their own system of how they want units to be calculated (ie. center of demising walls, to exterior face of corridors to exterior face of building) This includes wall thicknesses, etc. which is why often measurements calculated with a tape measure won’t get you to the original number. Obviously a lot of times exterior space is (unfortunately) included as interior living space as well.
Regarding posting of square footage…not posting it is on the same level as list parking (when it really is rental parking available).
You can state all you want about how some places feel bigger than the listed space. But ultimately, it just makes it harder for a buyer to find what they are looking for. (I do understand that it is not always the agent’s choice – sometimes it is the seller)
I don’t think it is too much to ask to have a standard in place for square footage. With laser tape measures, it can’t be that hard to take room dimensions. Yes, the buyer can do so on their own, but I think the real estate industry owes it to consumers to be truthful and consistent in these matters – especially if they want consumers to be more respectful and trusting of agents.
Reminds me of how many mortgage lenders lie about interest rates because if they don’t, they will look like the odd man out and they know consumers are overly focused on interest rates.
I don’t disagree with you, Russ, but it will have to come from one of the ARs or the MLS and they will have to mandate that all listings include it. But measuring rooms is a lot easier than coming up with the total square footage.
“I don’t think it is too much to ask to have a standard in place for square footage. With laser tape measures, it can’t be that hard to take room dimensions. Yes, the buyer can do so on their own, but I think the real estate industry owes it to consumers to be truthful and consistent in these matters”
Exactly…if realtors can’t be trusted by either party, buyers OR sellers, to come up with proper dimensions what qualifies them to that 3/3% commission? The one thing I think I will always remember about this site is when MG said it was ‘simply a number’ (correct me if I am wrong re the exact quote anon(tfo)) when asked why the reluctance at posting exact sq ftage numbers. To his credit though, he is one of a very few who do occasionally post a floorplan…
Again, in NY it is common practice to list both sq ft and a floorplan, so agents/brokers can give every excuse in the book (sorry Lucido) but it is just not that much a chore…and no, a software kit is not needed to come up with these numbers.
A ‘junior member’ of my crew calculates the numbers for us with a laser device along with a rough draft of the floorplan…all of this coming from a kid who dropped out of school in the 6th grade.
In ordering high dollar materials (which need an accurate measurement) such as flooring, tiles, mouldings, etc. I buy an extra 10 ft of any of these things (when the industry standard is to buy 15% extra) and am guaranteed that there will be only 2 or 3 ft of tiny pieces of scrap material left over.
IT IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT and should be required in this industry.
Westloop,
its way OT but i thought you should know that wifey and I will be hosting a “Wipeout” dinner party. apparently its not just me who thinks this show is the greatest show ever made.
For 800k I’d expect my agent to have at least a real pic of the exterior of the building and not a pre-con rendering.
hehe @ Groove….
I seriously did not know what this show was until you mentioned it. I then tivo’ed it and could see why it is popular. Funny stuff…don’t know if I could agree ‘the greatest show ever’…tho
“don’t know if I could agree ‘the greatest show ever’…tho”
when you watch as little tv as i do the odds favor it BEING THE GREATEST SHOW on TV.
Just wait till you see what wifey and i brain stormed for the dinner party. so far We will replicate the big ball obstacle with gigantic meatballs. the sucker punch obstacle, will be Blow pops w/ the mud pit being a bowl of punch, but doent know what to use for the wall?
we think this will be the most labor intensive dinner party we ever have thrown.
sounds like a stomach ache
Start watching The Wire already
“sounds like a stomach ache”
When we stared planning it we did conclude it will be the worst mix of food EVER. the menu is still not even close to final
We are open to ideas on ways to “build” the obstacle course.
“Start watching The Wire already”
Its in the delivery box in the pantry at the house i will get to it eventually!
“I seriously did not know what this show was until you mentioned it. I then tivo’ed it and could see why it is popular.”
I hadn’t heard of it either and will check it out but haven’t yet. In that vein, much more serious, and almost surely better, is Ninja Warrior (on G4 channel or something).
And yes, it’s time to get up on The Wire. Drop the kid off at gparents and set a whole weekend aside.
“one thing I think I will always remember about this site is when MG said it was ’simply a number’ (correct me if I am wrong re the exact quote anon(tfo)) ”
May have been “just a number”, but you remember the intent precisely.